MENTAL HEALTH AND SELF
5 Things We Can Do to Manage Our Anger in This Catastrophe
Tips from an ex-anger management facilitator
Ever since I experienced a mental collapse due to too much work and stress a long time ago, mental health has been a critical issue for me. I even took an anger management course to learn psychological systems deeply.
During this pandemic, I baked bread and cakes, taught origami to my daughter, and made arrangements for room decorations to bring smiles to my family. Now war has broken out. What can we do to stay aware of international affairs and yet remain calm?
1. Make Yourself Unwind Regularly
When we’re under too much stress, our bodies and minds forget to relax. Breaths become shallow, muscles stiffen, and sleep quality deteriorates.
What you can do to help yourself is by intentionally unwinding. Don’t know how? Here are some tips:
- Take a hot bath with bath salt. If you don’t have any, you can use regular salt. Or tip a glass of Japanese sake into the tub as soaking in it also helps your blood circulation. You don’t need to pick a renowned brand. Inexpensive sake lines usually do the same trick.
- Do light exercises like yoga, or even only a little stretching. Pay attention to your breath, and breathe in and out slowly.
- Meditate. Counting up numbers from one to six is recommended to manage anger because it usually fades within 6 seconds. Shakyo is also a great solution for those who can’t meditate well.
2. Music and Art Are With Us
We never fail to find solace in music. My recommendation is Bill Evans’s YouTube channel. The legend’s complete discography is available there. It’s a perfect platform to browse on sleepless nights.
Immersing you in the world of art also helps you regain energy and curiosity. If a physical visit isn’t a possibility, museums offer virtual tours, like the Louvre in Paris, France, which has taken its collection online for virtual visitors for the first time since last summer.
Now you can visit the Mona Lisa without the crowds and selfie-takers hogging the view, and they’d even released the VR app to showcase DiVinci’s masterpiece.
3. Avoid Doom-Scrolling
We’re likely to change our behavioral patterns under threat. You may start watching news programs endlessly. Social media feed suddenly turns to be more aggressive and addictive than usual.
I recommend limiting your intake of news unless you’re a news reporter. Sticking to your go-to programs and podcasts will enable you to keep yourself grounded. It’s more practical to consider what we can do to make this world a better place than condemn foreign governments in your imagination.
4. Have Conversations With Whom You Really Trust
Connecting with people by sharing anger or frustration may end up hurting your feelings more. There is no need to bottle up your anxiety, but it’s crucial that you don’t misguide yourself by following unreliable sources or feeding the trolls.
Consuming too much information on Twitter might give you additional mental burdens. Sticking with your regular news sources and having closed, intimate conversations with your partner and best friends will keep you mentally balanced.
5. Write a Journal
Writing is healing for many of us. It allows us to detect our cognitive patterns. As shared in my previous article, when we keep recording what has touched our nerves or has been annoying, we learn what can be done to avoid such triggers.
The world we live in often sucks. It’s okay to say so when we need to. But if you want to pull yourself together for a better quality of your life, we should make some changes wisely.
We deserve both mentally and physically healthy life no matter how catastrophic our environment is. I hope this article will help you live better.
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